Hi everyone,
I am new to this group and have just purchase a W reg Suzuki Vitara (Fatboy) - When i got this i realised that i will need to reupholster the seats and interior but wasn''t made aware of other issues. I will list them and please be honest - do you think i should fix all of these things or have i bought a bad one?
*Passenger door shuts but allows air in at top when driving - makes the journey quite noisy, I think it may have previously been broken into and the door is slightly bent as not completely flush like the drivers side.
*Side steps, towbar, spare wheel bracket - very rusty
*The wheel arches have seals hanging off and do not fit the vehicle well - possibly poor fitting or wrong fitting or knackered
*Rust inside the rear door on the metal strip that screws the carpet to the floor - dosen't appear to have spread to the main floor but this points towards the rear seal not working on the door.
*Glove compartment has no catch
*Inside of passenger door does not appear to be very well attached and the lock will only work from the outside using the key

Also the spare wheel is normal sized and all the tyres fitted are those massively wide alloys - does this mean this is useless.

I do love this car but am unsure if i would be throwing money down the drain - i cannot believe the state of this car considering it only has 57000 miles clocked up.

Sounds pretty normal to me for a second hand car unless you paid a lot for it,

door frames are easy to straigten, wind the window down, stick your knee against a solid bit of door and just bend the door frame in by pulling it.

Tow bars and spare wheel brackets are always rusty on any car, wire brush the loose stuff off and black hammerite them if it bothers you, take the side steps off and scrap them, who needs them on a little car like a Vitara anyway?

er, this ones simple, replace the strip and the door seal maybe?

as is this one, get glove box catch from ebay or scrapyard and fit it.

take the passenger door panel off and have a look why the door lock dont work, then when you put it back attach it properly

spare wheel and tyre should be the same outside diameter as the road wheels, but can be a different width as long as you only use it in an emergency, most of us with diufferent wheels or tyres have an odd spare, including me.

It all sounds like simple stuff to me that could be done by a first time mechanic, maybe find someone local who youve seen working on cars and get them to help for beer money. You wont learn by paying someone else to do the work and all those jobs are easy enough for anyine to attempt, and learning a bit about your car will svae you money AND give a great sense of satisfaction when you fix something._________________

Hey,
Thanks for the feedback, having seen your photographs i am tempted to take off the fatboy conversion kit that someone has stuck on it (rather badly). The wheel arches are all hanging off and causing rust on the main body where the seals do not fit properly. Now all i need to work out is why it starts 80% of the time with no problems and not the rest - i will try a full service and see if that helps.